Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Somebody turned 1 today. Here is a hint...



It is kind of a strange day for me. I understand Tarik is a year old today but since we have only him for 7 months my brain is having a hard time reconciling this. We got together on the east side of the state last weekend for a big combined birthday party. Tarik's cousin Ben turned 1 last week so we thought it made more sense to do them together and save family the expense of traveling twice. I am not sure about the final count but we had to be close to 50 and it was fairly organized chaos.

In other news Katie celebrated her First Communion the on the 20th. I have pictures but not accessible to me right now. (I will post one tonight sometime between swim lessons, a softball game, bath night, and Tarik opening his presents.)She looked so beautiful and I couldn't believe how grown up she has gotten. Funny story about her dress, Jen wanted to get a veil for the outfit and I looked at her like she was nuts. I mean I could not picture ever seeing a veil on a First Communion outfit, at least not is the last 30 years. Anyway so I took Katie early on Sunday for pictures and noticed almost all the girls wearing these cute lacy trains, head bands what ever you call them. Then I thought, hmmm is that called a veil? Turns out it is. I thought a veil went over your face, you know like at a wedding? This shows once again I no nothing about fashion and that I should never question my wife and let her do whatever she wants.




We had a nice day, Katie got to give one of the Prayers of Intention and did a great job. Afterward we took everyone out to eat. The weather was finally perfect and we were able to eat outside on the patio at the restaurant. Really just the perfect day.

On the same day Katie celebrated her First Communion, Jen turned 26 (Okay I realize that we are celebrating our 11th anniversary this year and that would imply she was 15 when we got married, one more reason math can get you in trouble!) and in celebration went to see that Bon Jovi guy again. He was in town on her birthday (coincidence? I hope so) and her best friend bought her a ticket so I had no say in the matter. She had a great time and came home to me that night so I guess I win Jon!

That's it for now. I promise we will do better posting.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Memememe, oh and #8



First things first, Tarik got tooth number 8 last week. Just after he turned 11 months! Hopefully he will get a little reprieve for awhile. He has gotten 6 teeth in 2 months!

Oh, and we had the 4 babies together at Easter and had to take more pictures that will surely make me the 'worst mom ever' at some point in the future. (I think the dads are starting to be on the babies' sides, so this might be the end of the cute baby booty pics!)


I was tagged by my friend Niki , so I guess I will attempt to continue the little game. One problem is that I read very few blogs...

Here are the rules for the meme:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you. [done]

2. Post these rules on your blog. [done]

3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry.


OK, so 6 unimportant things about me.

1. I have 3 sisters and no brothers, so when I had an ultrasound and found out my second baby was a boy, I seriously didn't know what to think. It was just so weird to picture a boy in the family (my poor daddy - as if he isn't a boy). He would also be the first grandson, so my mom wasn't alot of help. She seemed as confused about it as I was... We got over it and I couldn't love my sweet boy anymore. Gramma thinks he is pretty awesome too.

2. I lived in the Mississippi until I was 14, but both of my parent are originally from Iowa. I developed a slight southern draw, but still never understood many key southern phrases, such as "over yonder" (I never could figure out where yonder was), "y'all come back now, ya here" (I was confused by this comment, in places where I might never be back to), and "fixin' to start" (so are we starting or not?). We didn't drink tea, eat greens or grits. I know many of my friends thought we were alittle odd. I lost any southern accent I had very quickly when moving to Iowa in 8th grade.

3. I love 80's/90's hair band music, such as Metallica, G&R, White Zombie, Ozzy, Danzig, AC/DC, Bon Jovi. I can't help it, I flip stations and really like lots of new stuff, but get sucked back in when I hear any of this music. I crank it ridiculously loud, and I know I look cool in my minivan. heehee

4. I told my new sweet husband that I would move anywhere when we got married. But when the real conversations of moving started, I chickened out and am 35 minutes from my parents. We are a whooping 2 hours from much of the rest of the family, which is alittle too far. And I think the 5 hours to my sister in Chicago is way too long. But to what may be the extreme, my grandma lives on the same street as two of her children, which is a few blocks away from another daughter, and a couple of my cousins. And another daughter and my grandpa used to live within a block of her too. But talk about a close family, there is always someone to talk to, ask for help from, and hang out with.

5. I have worked at my employer for 10 1/2 years, and it is the only 'real' job I have ever had since I graduated from college. I like it there and have had tons of experience and many roles, but my resume sucks. I am alittle too old to list my part time college jobs.

6. I spent a couple hours on Saturday picking up dog poop in the back yard. We had friends coming over on Sunday and we had TONS of cleaning to do Saturday, but it was an amazing day (and we have had a cruel, long, cold, snowy winter). So, I was happy to pick up poop, just so I could have an excuse to be outside. It was a good thing too, Sunday turned out to be decent and the 7 kids in addition to our 4, were dying to play outside. Since the guests were all 5 and under, we were outside supervising and I would have died if any of the little ones were to step in poop. **On a side note, despite our carpet cleaner and fridge breaking down a couple days prior to the get-together, we were able to pull off the appearance that we live in a clean house, despite 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. Until...my 6 year old swung open the door to the storage area, right off the family room. You see, to get our house to this miraculously clean state, we had to hide a few things and the storage area was crammed with junk. I about fainted since we were all right there and screamed, 'quick, Jack shut the door'. He was climbing through like it was a jungle gym with another boy following right behind. He said 'why mom', and I responded that 'it was a mess and dangerous to climb through there'. He said 'I always do this mom', which is not true. Anyway, I was embarrassed and everyone was laughing, with me, not at me I am sure ;)

I am not sure who to tag, so if you read this, you are tagged. Sorry for the lame transfer there. Did I 'break the chain'??? :)
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